Cast a vote to help a student blogger win the 2011 Blogging Scholarship

I've been a bit remiss in noting this year's blogging scholarship, which awards $10,000 to a student blogger to help support her/him in college. As readers may recall, last year we helped Nerdy Christie Wilcox overcome a make-up blogger to win the scholarship. This year's competition has again thrown up a number of diverse bloggers among the finalists. Mixed in among the sports and lifestyle bloggers, are a number of students who write about weightier topics ranging from particle physics and astronomy, to sharks and climate change, to economics. Go look at the entire list - you may find (as did I) that you already read one or more of these blogs, so here's your chance to help the writers win a scholarship. You will also find good new blogs to keep an eye out as these students develop their writing talent.

Two of the finalists study and blog about topics closest to my own interests, so I would recommend voting for one of these:

David Shiffman, who contributes (as WhySharksMatter) to the Southern Fried Science blog, and is studying sharks for his dissertation:

I've been named a finalist in the 2011 blogging scholarship. If I win, it will provide me with $10,000 towards my dissertation research, focusing on the ecological importance of sharks to coral reefs. I'll also use the money to support our lab's citizen science program, which has taken over 1,000 high school students and teachers into the field to learn about sharks and participate in an active research program. I'll also adopt a satellite tagged shark in the name of Southern Fried Science's readers, let them name it through a contest, and post regular updates about where it is and what it's likely to be encountering.

David is currently leading the poll, and your votes in the remaining couple of days could ensure he wins the scholarship.

Another worthy blogger to support is Jacquelyn Gill, who writes at the Contemplate Mammoth:

I blog about ecology and climate change over various time scales --ranging from the last ice age to the present-- and how our understanding of the past can help prepare us for the future. I also write about my experience in grad school and academia, share book reviews and interesting journal articles, and discuss science literacy, science communication in all forms...and the occasional dung fungus.

She is running 6th in the poll at the moment, so you could help push her numbers up!

Note that voting ends November 30th, and you can vote once per day, via this page:

http://www.collegescholarships.org/blog/2011/11/18/2011-blogging-scholarship/

Go vote, if not early, at least often in the next couple of days!

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings